Victor Harbour, South Australia

Victor Harbour, South Australia
Victor Harbour, South Australia

Victor Harbour is a hugely popular weekend destination for Adelaide fishermen.

Being outside the shelter of the Gulf of St Vincent, the rugged coastline between “Victor” and Cape Jervis has deeper beaches and rock platforms that tend to produce bigger fish than the shallower gulf beaches.

Victor Harbour has a sheltered boat ramp, but the ocean outside must be treated with respect.

The area inside Granite Island is a useful anchorage largely protected from ocean swell.

Granite Island is the main attraction for landbased fishos. It is accessed on foot via a long causeway over shallow weedbeds.

It is quite a walk over the causeway and to the popular Screwpile Jetty, so take a trolley if you fish with a lot of gear.

The Screwpile Jetty is short but borders deep water and produces salmon, snapper, seven-gill sharks, barracouta, mulloway, silver trevally and gummy sharks, as well as tommy ruff, sweep and chow.

The jetty runs hot or cold but the chance of quality fish keeps fishos coming back.

Snapper and mulloway bite best at dusk and dawn.

Near the Screwpile Jetty is an ocean rock wall that shields the jetty.

This rock wall produces just about anything, including some cracker sweep, but should not be fished in a swell as waves can break over the top.

The island’s causeway is good for gar and squid.

Boaters will find squid, gar, tommy ruff, KG whiting, salmon, snapper, leatherjackets and snook on shallow reefs and over seagrass around Victor Harbour.

Boaters who want to fish inshore for mixed species should try grounds between Granite Island and Wright Island.

Bluefin tuna are reliable in season and are targeted in canoes by adventurous fishos.

Nearby, Rosetta Head (The Bluff) has a small jetty that is popular with squid fishos.

Victor Harbour beaches fish well for mullet in autumn/winter, with salmon trout all year, and occasional big mulloway.

Port Elliot’s small jetty has produced big mulloway.

See the region’s beaches here.

Victor Harbour’s Hindmarsh and Inman Rivers usually have black bream, with redfin and carp upstream.

Use an unweighted or very lightly weighted bait of peeled prawn in the rivers for bream.

Trout occur in the upper Hindmarsh River, with good fly fishing in years past, but access is difficult.

The short section of the Hindmarsh from the second waterfall down to the gauging weir was historically stocked with trout.

Prawns, squid and cockles (pipis) are all good baits for general saltwater fishing around Victor Harbour.

Mince meat is often used for yelloweye mullet.

Be sure to take some squid jigs to Victor Harbour. Squid almost always are best at dawn and dusk, and at night.

Off the surf beaches, any surf rod that can cast a chrome-slice lure a reasonable distance will catch salmon trout, which are usually about. They also respond to most types of bait.

A live salmon trout or mullet makes a great bait for mulloway, look for a deep gutter and fish a large high tide, with night fishing most likely to succeed.

Because of its popularity with Adelaide folk as a seaside destination, accommodation over holiday periods tends to book out early.



Booking.com

Here is the SA seasonal fishing calendar for various fish species.

Book your fishing stay early at Booking.com

Victor Harbour weather and tides
Victor Harbour coastline
Victor Harbour accommodation
SA fishing regulations
SA marine parks
Return to SA Fishing Map

NOTE: Special snapper rules apply in South Australia – more info here.

Email corrections, additions, pictures or video here.

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Book your fishing B&B early at Booking.com



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